The two candidates for mayor and the 11 candidates for councillor gave their thoughts on issues facing Estevan during a candidates’ forum hosted by the Estevan Chamber of Commerce Thursday night at the Access Communications studio.
The forum aired live on several different streaming platforms.
Each candidate was given one minute for an opening statement, a minute to answer each of the prepared questions from the chamber, a minute for each question from the community, and a one-minute closing statement.
The mayoral candidates were up first. Incumbent Roy Ludwig and challenger Ray Walton offered their platforms, and then answered the questions from the chamber. The first was on why they would want to run for council when facing such a difficult economic time, and the second was on the importance of economic development.
The focus then shifted to the questions from the public. Unlike the provincial election candidates’ forum earlier in the month, the chamber didn’t take questions from the public during the forum. Executive director and moderator Jackie Wall drew questions from a box that were submitted from the community before the forum.
One question dealt with the amount of discussion that takes place behind closed doors during council meetings, the second was asked about support for first responders and other city employees dealing with mental health issues, and the third was on physician recruitment and retention.
After Ludwig and Walton gave their closing statements, the councillor candidates had their turn. They were divided into two groups due to the number of people running for councillor. The first six were Blaine Chrest, Lindsay Clark, Rebecca Foord, Travis Frank, Mark Henderson and Tony Sernick. The second group was Geoff Thiessen, Shelly Veroba, Kirsten Walliser, Bernadette Wright and Allan Yergens. Frank and Veroba are the only incumbents.
The councillor candidates gave their opening remarks and received the same prepared questions as the mayoral candidates, but the questions from the public were different.
The first group of councillor candidates was asked about what they would do to support present businesses, and what they would do about the wild swings in assessment values from the Saskatchewan Assessment Management Agency.
The second group was asked about how to position Estevan as an affordable to place to live, and how to attract and retain small businesses in the city, beyond what currently exists.
The potential polygeneration facility that was announced earlier in the day Thursday was brought up repeatedly throughout the debate.
The civic election is Nov. 9.
The next edition of the Mercury will have more on the forum.
